'Perfect Place" for Classical Singers from Brooklyn College - Free Concert May 5
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'Perfect Place' for Classical Singers from Brooklyn College - Free Concert May 5
BROOKLYN - Usually, much of the music played and sung at the New Utrecht Reformed Church in Bensonhurst was written close to two centuries after the church was founded in 1677, but that won't be the case Saturday, May 5, when the public is invited to a free concert by the award-winning Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College Chamber Choir. The conductor is Jonathan P. Babcock.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Parking is in the church lot at 18th Ave. and 84th St.
While the church building itself undergoes a $2 million repair and restoration of the 1828 structure, the setting for the music program "Love Songs and Folk Tales" will be the church Parish House. With its magnificent stained-glass windows and vaulted architecture, the Parish House, well known for its remarkable acoustics, pre-dates the church building.
Winner of the first annual City University of New York Choral Competition, the Conservatory Chamber Choir is a select ensemble of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, and recently performed at the New York State School Music Association convention in Rochester.
"This will be the perfect setting for the Conservatory of Music choir," said Robert Buonvino, president of Friends of Historic New Utrecht, which arranged for the concert. "The voices should sound magnificent, not overpowering. Clear as a bell. This is the perfect place for these wonderful singers to be heard!"
The program begins with music that pre-dates the church's early founding in the Village of New Utrecht, before the American Revolution. Later in the evening more modern classical sounds will fill the night air in the historic church complex. The program will include:
Three Renaissance Madrigals,
The Village Wedding by John Tavener, an English composer in the early 1500s;
Ronde from Trois Chansons by Maurice Ravel;
Three British Folk Songs: The Last Rose of Summer, Dulaman and Danny Boy; and
Three Love Songs: Te Quiero (Argentina), Molihua (China) and La Villanellas (Italy).
Conductor Babcock, assistant professor of music at Brooklyn College, also conducts the 65-voice Brooklyn College Chorale and teaches courses in music education and ear training. He is the deputy director for undergraduate studies and coordinator of music performance for the Conservatory. He has worked with opera stars and others in venues including The Tilles Center, Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
More information about the concert and on the history of Brooklyn's early days is available at (718) 256-7173 and at www.historicnewutrecht.org and www.newutrechtchurch.org.
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